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Thursday, 10 May 2012

Robots of the future: £16 million boost for UK robotics

EngineerbloggerMay 10, 2012

UK research to develop smart machines that think for themselves will receive a £16 million boost today thanks to a major partnership between the government and industry. This research includes two University of Bristol EPSRC-funded projects.

Speaking at the official opening of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England, Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, will announce today [Thursday 10 May] funding for 22 exciting university-based research projects in the UK.

Building vehicles with legs will look at how visual information is used to adapt to changing terrain and environment by studying how humans behave via head-mounted cameras. This could speed up the development of vision control for land-based vehicles with wheels or legs.

Robotics research and the development of intelligent autonomous systems, such as unmanned aircraft, are vital to many major UK companies, emerging industries, and SMEs, from advanced manufacturing to oil and gas exploration, nuclear energy to railways and automotive, healthcare to defence.

Autonomous and intelligent systems are capable of independent action in dynamic, unpredictable environments. They interact with each other and humans, using sensors to learn from their environment, adapting their behaviour and making choices based on their immediate and stored knowledge and experiences.

Mr Willetts said: “Robotics and autonomous intelligent systems are areas of science in which the UK has world class expertise, but to reap the full benefits for the economy and society we need to get better at applying the technology to industry. This £16 million investment will bring together leaders from the research base and business to develop systems for a range of important sectors, from transport to aerospace. In addition, I have asked EPSRC, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Technology Strategy Board to organise a roundtable to discuss the future of UK research in this area.”

Professor David Delpy, Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which is funding the projects, said: “These technologies can help us in many practical ways, for instance, using unmanned air or land vehicles to monitor emergency situations like disasters or to carry out maintenance inspections. But the research will also look at how people and systems interact and help develop further our understanding of how knowledge can be acquired and used independently by machines that learn.”

Commenting on behalf of the six industry partners, James Baker, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Advanced Technology Centre, said: “It is vital for the universities to work with industry to drive these technologies forward as autonomous and intelligent systems are going to be an integral part of our infrastructure and society in the near future. As partners we hold a shared goal to improve the generic technology in the field so that it can transfer and benefit many industries and sectors.